Local

The National Parks Service is promising to make right a 30-year wrong, with the correction of the misspelled name of a fallen Western New York hero on Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C.

For a Niagara Falls area family who lost a loved one in the Vietnam War, there is closure at last.

The family of army medic and Bishop Duffy High School graduate Roland Settimi has waited 30 years for a wrong to be made right.  Roland was killed in action in 1969. 

State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has announced establishment of a Conviction Review Bureau in New York to address potential wrongful convictions. 

Schneiderman says the bureau will work with law enforcement agencies across the state to ensure that those convicted of crimes are indeed the real perpetrators.  The AG's office will work with regional district attorneys to identify and address "compelling claims of innocence."  

Saint John Baptist Church is being named "designated developer" for 50 city-owned lots in the Fruit Belt as it moves forward on a multi-million dollar plan to build 49 rental town houses.

They will be scattered across the community on the now-vacant lots.

It's part of a continuing expansion of Saint John and its affiliates, including a charter school, a planned second charter and the leafy McCarley Gardens housing complex which it plans to sell to the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.

However, there are critics of the plan.

Buffalo is celebrating its 50th anniversary with its sister city in Japan, Kanazawa. 

Celebrations begin Thursday night in Washington, D.C. then move to Buffalo next week with a series of events.

WBFO & AM-970’s Eileen Buckley spoke to the local president of Buffalo-Kanazawa about the relationship between two cities that share some similarities.

The relationship between Buffalo and Kanazawa is the oldest, continuous Sister Cities relationship in America.         

Mayor Brown says city residents are truly concerned about the new zoning code and that's why they packed the auditorium at ECC City last night.

The last time the zoning code was replaced, Buffalo was a booming city with an industrial base and booming suburbs.

That was 60 years ago and the code has only been tinkered with since.

Now, there is a new code in the works with a final version slated to be ready for public hearings late this year.

The new code is planned to help create mixed-use, walkable places for the 21st Century.

With the possibility of spending at least $100 million on repairing Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park, city lawmakers are pushing for another look at instead building a new stadium in the City of Buffalo.

Erie County and the Bills are involved in talks about a new lease, although no details are being released. The current stadium needs significant repairs, with the estimate of $100 million being used frequently, although an in-depth study apparently hasn't been completed for the Bills.

A new four-year financial plan for Erie County has been released by County Executive Mark Poloncarz. The former county comptroller says the document is designed to more accurately reflect expenses and revenues from the previous proposals by former County Executive Chris Collins.

While Collins called for numerous job cuts, Poloncarz holds the line on county employment. The proposal calls for a seven percent increase in employment expenses by 2015, but also projects the reduction in the work force of about 50 jobs through attrition.

Could eating placenta, or the afterbirth, provide medical benefits for mothers, or possibly, all humans? That’s the question behind a new paper from a team of Buffalo researchers. But, as Daniel Robison reports, finding the answer will not be easy.

Governor Andrew Cuomo's aggressive legislative agenda will not include any action on the issue of medical marijuana.

Cuomo told reporters in Utica Monday that he understands there has been more research and the issue can be re-evaluated, but he doesn't believe there is enough time in this year's legislative session to do that properly.

In his 2010 campaign, Cuomo rejected legalizing marijuana for medical use, but has since said he's reconsidering.

Cuomo says New York still has what he calls ``a terrible problem'' with drug use.

The public gets another chance to examine some of the concepts that may soon be part of Buffalo's updated City Code.

Tonight's meeting at 6:30 at  ECC City Campus is part of a lengthy process to revamp an often-amended code originally written in 1953.

With the assistance of an outside consultant, a series of meetings has developed a proposal which emphasizes walkable city neighborhoods and environmental sustainability.

Planners are hoping to bring a new code to the Common Council for a final vote by the end of this year.

Visitors to New York State's parks may soon be limited in where they can smoke, with restrictions going into effect now.

The new restrictions aren't quite visible because the signs are only now being installed.

They will go around playgrounds, pools, beaches and food and beverage concessions.

Western District Director Mark Thomas says the restrictions reflect fewer smokers and decisions about the health effects on those who smoke and those who are around tobacco users.

He says the signs going up will show symbols rather than words.

The children's museum Explore & More wants to move from East Aurora to a Waterfront location on the site of the old Memorial Auditorium.

In a location even Executive Director Barbara Leggett says is hard to find in East Aurora, 50,000 visitors still arrive each year.

With a Downtown Buffalo location on public transit lines, she says there could be 150,000 on the Aud site.

The museum has applied to the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation to be the cultural center for kids on the Waterfront.

Leggett says children's museums are different.

Construction work at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport, set to begin late tonight, will cause some traffic delays for much of the spring and summer outside of the terminal. 

Both the upper departures deck and the lower arrivals area will undergo significant structural improvements including milling, paving and striping, as well as concrete and sidewalk repairs. 

Critics and supporters offer various grades regarding the performance of Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz after 100 days in office.

Some, like Republican legislators Kevin Hardwick and Lynne Dixon, believe it's too early to give any grade besides an "incomplete."

Democratic supporters are offering high marks to Poloncarz while the County Executive has given himself an "A-minus or a B-plus."

Listen to more from WBFO/AM970's Mark Leitner.

With much of the Washington debate focused on cutting the national debt, Congressman Brian Higgins will try to buck that trend later this month by introducing a transportation bill with a price tag exceeding $one trillion.

The five-year plan dubbed the "Nation Building Here at Home Act" would use federal dollars to help re-build roads, bridges and airports across the country.

According to the the Buffalo News, Higgins admits the spending plan faces difficult political circumstances, but argues it's needed to reverse a crumbling national infrastructure.